Hispanic growth brings new state House seat to Allentown

Top court upholds remap that gives Allentown a House district, adds a Senate district.

May 08, 2013|By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau

Residents in parts of the greater Lehigh Valley are going to need a new score card to keep track of who their state lawmakers are.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld new legislative boundaries for the House and Senate as more geographically compact — and less politically gerrymandered — than a previous plan the justices rejected last year.

The new map goes into effect in the 2014 election. It includes a House seat and Senate seat that are moving to the region from Allegheny County because of population declines there.

In the House, the 22nd District is moving to Allentown to reflect the city's rising Hispanic population in its downtown and south side. That newly created Allentown seat pushes Republican Justin Simmons, who has represented those city neighborhoods since 2010, into Emmaus, Upper Milford Township and Montgomery County.

The 22nd District had to move to Allentown to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which states demographics must be considered when creating electoral boundaries if a majority of the population is minority, Simmons said.

"That will push me completely out of Allentown," Simmons said. "I am the only Republican in the House who has the privilege of representing Allentown."

Although the 22nd District was moved eastward to reflect Allentown's minority population, the seat is being eyed by Democratic City Councilman Peter Schweyer, a white south Allentown resident. He is the only candidate to publicly emerge.

"I think it's the worst-kept secret in the Lehigh Valley," Schweyer said of his thoughts on running for the open seat.

That's not the only change for Allentown. The city moves from four to two representatives: the 22nd District and 132nd District, currently held by Democrat Mike Schlossberg.

Democrat Steve Samuelson loses east Allentown as well as west Bethlehem, keeps all of north Bethlehem and picks up south Bethlehem and half of Bethlehem Township. Those boundaries are similar to what the 135th District looked like from the 1960s to the '80s, Samuelson said.

"I do agree the second map was better than the first map," Samuelson said. "The first map was so partisan."

The state Constitution mandates that Senate and House district boundaries be redrawn every 10 years, based on the latest Census. Districts are required to be compact, contiguous and as equal in population as practicable. The Constitution also prohibits the division of any county, city or other political subdivision into multiple districts unless absolutely necessary.

A five-member commission, which includes party leaders of both legislative chambers, plus an impartial fifth panelist, draws the "ideal" districts of 62,573 constituents for each House seat and 254,048 constituents for each Senate seat. But the parties that hold the majority in the House and Senate often draw boundaries to protect incumbents, and Republicans currently control both chambers.

In his Supreme Court opinion, Chief Justice Ronald Castille, a Republican, said challengers showed that the commission's map of the 50 Senate and 203 House districts included too many split and oddly shaped political subdivisions. In making his decision, Castille relied in part on a more concise, home-drawn map by one of the plaintiffs: Amanda Holt, a piano teacher and Republican committee woman from Upper Macungie Township.

The new map was challenged again in court by Holt and many of the original challengers. They lost.

Castille, again writing for the majority, said redistricting can include political gamesmanship as long as it is not so evident it creates "unlawful violence" to the Constitution. The new map is not perfect and does not address "every challenger's argument respecting subdivision splits," Castille wrote, adding the court has to view the map as a whole.

"Balancing all these interests, we believe that the 2012 final plan is not contrary to law on grounds that it does not respect the integrity of political subdivision," Castille wrote.

In an interview, Pileggi said he did not agree with the court's first ruling, but he is glad the court unanimously approved the new plan.

Reached at home, Holt said she was still reading the opinion but still believes the legislative map splits too many communities.

"There were political subdivisions that were split up and divided that were unnecessary," she said.

The approved map also affects local Senate districts.

Republican Sen. Pat Browne will only serve Lehigh County as he loses pieces of his existing political boundaries in Monroe and Northampton counties.

Northampton County will have two state Senate districts instead of five.

One seat is held by Democratic Sen. Lisa Boscola. Her boundaries will shift south to make room for the 40th District, which is moving from Allegheny County.

The new 40th will cover parts of Boscola's existing sections in the Nazareth area, Slate Belt and eastern Monroe County. Democrats make up 45 percent and Republicans 37 percent of the 174,045 voters in those communities.

Boscola's new southern boundary includes the more Democratic Easton area, now held by Republican Bob Mensch, who moves more into the more Republican Berks County.